Muddy Creek Brewery: Hot Break!

[nvious23]

I'm not sure you can't get by on just marketing Anheuser Busch does a great job with budweiser and bud light.

 

[zwiller]

Almost forgot, someone asked me if I had a brewery and I do NOT. Sorry if my post appeared that way. That said, I own a small business and spent a large part of my life in bands so I know a thing or two about bar owners and that business.

I have some ideas and have a killer idea for a poster (have any of those?) but first, I assume you have the data to back this up, but being a self distributor should really boost the margin for your customers. Are your customers aware of this? Maybe do a little hand out to go along with the growler sampler?

 

[MuddyCreek]

zwiller, we have a two-page write up that we give out to all our prospective accounts that lists all our products, their ABV, their ibus and then gives a description of the style and what to expect in terms of flavor etc. The description is worded such that if the restaurant (whatever) chooses to carry a product they can pull from the sheet and put something on the beer list for the product. (examples below...)

Black Ice Pale Ale
6.7 % ABV, 25 ibus

What happens when you take a perfectly wonderful Pale Ale recipe and add a huge amount of fresh blackberries to it? Something wonderful. This is an “anti-fruit” beer. You’ll catch a minor aroma of blackberries before you taste the pale ale, and you may taste just a touch of blackberry in the finish, but the fruit is very subtle and that’s the perfect complement to the pale ale.

Muddy Creek Chocolate Stout
6.5 % ABV, 38 ibus

This chocolate stout is the cornerstone of Muddy Creek Brewery. For the best results, you should allow this beer to warm a bit before you drink it, the flavors will come out better. Then you’ll note some wonderful coffee, chocolate and toffee notes. You may also notice that the beer is smooth and silky on your tongue.

 

[MuddyCreek]

nvious23, The tide is turning but Bud and Bud Light are still the king of beers in America. True, marketing is a huge part of that success, and it's very interesting to note just how much money and really creepy thought has been put into the marketing of beers and alcohol in general in America. You'd be flat out freaked out to learn just how pervy American marketing REALLY is when it comes right down to mainstream beer commercials. (Really watch beer commercials and you'll see that virtually ALL of them are at the very core suggesting you are "free", "sexy", "better", and in general MUCH more likely to get laid if you happen to have a [bud], [coors], [michelob] etc. in your hand.

Still. People DO like those damn flavorless lagers. They like them alot. Over time, more and more people are coming over to the craft beer side of the world. Home brewing is picking up like crazy. Micro breweries are opening up like mad. (I was told by a friend of mine that he heard there was a micro opening up every 16 hours in the U.S., not sure if that's true, but WOW!)

 

[zwiller]

I meant a flyer highlighting the larger margin since you self distribute. Unless everyone is picking up on that right away.

 

[MuddyCreek]

Ya. We're not "big enough" yet to be able to pass on that margin to our consumers. Unless we win some hardware at a meaningful festival or something we'd just have to eat the distributor margin ourselves. Essentially, there IS no margin difference. We just take it in the shorts when we HAVE to use a distributor right now so that the keg can be reasonably priced.

Otherwise customers are only too happy to say "Muddy WHO?"

 

[zwiller]

Gotcha.

This is basically your first year right? Have you’ve done things like invite Chamber Commerce/News/Visitors Center/etc for meet and greets/Grand Opening? This should spin some other opportunities with other organizations.

Then there is the flyer idea... You up for something humorous?

 

[Eh_Modern_Drunkard]

Amazing thread sir!
Both of your threads have been extremely informative and helpful!
Hope you guys make it to a Canadian Beerfest soon
Cheers

 

[MuddyCreek]

We've done the chamber, had a couple news interviews - TV, Radio and Paper. We've hosted some local civic activity groups like the "Park and Ride" group and we're sponsoring our local fledgling Roller Derby team.

And yes, I'm always up for something humorous.

 

[MuddyCreek]

Well, we seem to have survived the opening of a major food-chain restaurant.

Last week was a bit of a slow week for us as Buffalo Wild Wings opened. We saw a 2k drop in our weekly revenue, but this week we bounced back so that pleased us. It certainly gave us an idea of what to expect when the next brewery opens in a few more weeks.

Fortunately, even with the revenue drop we're still profitable. However, we certainly want to keep pounding the pavement and seeking out new accounts to branch out new revenue streams. I won't lie though. It was nice to see the taproom full again after the Wild Wings opening...

[EDIT]: I was asked if we'd contacted Buffalo Wild Wings about carrying our beer. We did attempt to get ahold of them before they opened, but couldn't find anyone in charge locally or regionally. By the time we finally DID find a local contact they had already finalized their tap list and they won't put anything on their taps until they've cycled through their current contracts. IE, no local beers. So, we'll continue to send EVERYONE in Butte over their constantly asking them if they have Muddy Creek on tap EVERY SINGLE NIGHT. Cause I'm passive aggressive like that.

One of our other owners went in on the 2nd night they were open and asked what they had on tap and they said they had "Lots of local beers!" and he said, But you don't have ANY beers from Butte! And the waitress said, "Yes, but we have some from Missoula and Helena..." And my partner said, "You know there are 3 breweries right here in Butte, right? Those are 'Local' beers." She stammered something out about, "I think we only have "Montana beers on tap." I think he ended up ordering a Cold Smoke.

 

[lstrowge]

I've been through both threads and I applaud your efforts! It really sheds a light on what it takes to set up a Brew Pub AND be successful. I have several friends pushing me to do the same but I always push back with Capitol? Location? Free Labor? I'm too old to work a day job and start a brewery. I'm good with friends enjoying my homebrew for now.

On another note I am planning a trip to GABF this year and plan to stay in Butte on Sep 29th on the way back to the Pacific Northwest. Hope to make it in to town from Jackson, Wy before you close, otherwise we're staying in town until you do open. I have a pro-am beer being entered by Reuben's Brews in Seattle (Marzen) this year so maybe I'll have some hardware to bring home along with a growler or two of your beer!

Prost!

Lou

 

[MuddyCreek]

I wish you the best of luck lstrowge!

Couple updates. As you see I've been "out" for a week or two. We've had a bunch of stuff going on. I had a new account open up and I had to get them set up and since we are self-distributing that means "Yours-truly" gets to clean the lines. We have a very nice line-cleaner setup so it's really just a time issue. Sadly time is one of the luxuries I'm kinda short on these days - but I got it done. Actually managed to wrap that up by 8:00 a.m. on Friday. Just had a ton of other stuff I had to do as well.

So now we're distributed to 4 different places around the area. We hope to continue growing to at least one extra venue a month. That will supplement our income nicely and manage our growth alright I think.

HOWEVER! my fan is covered in ****! My sump pump stopped working about 2 weeks ago that that flat out put a halt to every damn thing in the brewhaus. You can't brew, you can't transfer, you can't clean... I mean you find out real quick and in hurry how much your life depends on a damn sump pump. So we had to monkey with that for quite awhile. We got it fixed but we were dead in the water for a week or so...

Meanwhile, 5 bbls of IPA I had sitting in fermenters ended up staying on the cake too long and it's already starting to lose it's pop. I should have pulled the yeast cake on it as soon as I started having issues with the sump but I was occupied. Short story... I had to brew another batch of IPA, which sucks. Hops are expensive, yeast is expensive.

But wait ~ there's MORE! I've mentioned that we use ambient temperature control in our fermentation room. I keep the room at 60 degrees to ferment the IPA. Well, our cooling unit failed us on Saturday during our brewing cycle so the fermenting room heated up to around 70 or so. The IPA had only been fermenting for 3 days. It's probably near the end of it's cycle, but I'm pretty sure we're going to see some off-flavors from the temp increase. Which just pisses me off.

Course I have the cooling unit fixed now, but what's done is done. I'll have to finish out the second batch of IPA and see what we've got. It's just frustrating. Those folks were right. Getting open is the easy part. Then you've got to maintain product consistency and keep producing week after week.

But, we'll get past this and move forward. Just more info about the day to day management of the brewery. It's the full time job away from my full time job. I still love it though. We had a musician in on Saturday who was flat out amazing. Truly a joy to listen to him. We also have sold 5 quarter barrels to private parties and a couple half barrels, so things are going nicely as far as that goes.

I have a couple seasonals to brew and we need to restock on malt and hops.

Oh, and THIS is exciting. We purchased a keg cleaner. It will be shipped at the end of July. We'll be able to clean 20 kegs an hour which will be a vast improvement over our current situation. My assistants will be eternally grateful!

 

[Bosh]

Hmmmm, what is the best idea to do with screwed up beer as a business? Dump it? Take it home since you don't want to sell something that isn't your best? Sell it at regular price and hope nobody notices the difference (had this happen to me, used to go to one brewpub that had a great Belgian strong ale, or at least it was great half the time, was just wildly inconsistent)? Sell it at a discount?

 

[MuddyCreek]

Oh first off Bosh, they notice! They notice right away. I have found it's best to be very forthcoming. We've been fortunate in that we've only had to outright dump out one batch so far.

We've actually talked to quite a few breweries around us according to what we're told the S.O.P. in this case is to determine A) is it a bad beer or just B) not the beer you were specifically brewing? Because that matters.

A "different" beer that still tastes good can be put on tap as something else, as long as it still meets the standards your brewery requires for serving. Obviously a "bad" beer just needs to be quietly shown the back exit.

There's more to it than that of course... how much did you make? etc. How far off were you? Do you have to register an entirely new beer with the state or is this just a very small seasonal run? One of the breweries near us however told us that one of their most popular regular beers now came about due to a beer that came out differently than they originally intended and therefore they put on as a "seasonal" and it was so well liked that they figured out exactly what happened in the process to produce it and put it into the regular rotation.

 

[WilliamSlayer]

Honestly thats facinating! I had never really considered what a brewery does if they 'miss' a bit. Bad batches 'go away', but if it's just a 'bit' off....

So it sounds like you said seasonal beers don't have to be registered as New beers? Maybe I read that wrong, but that must really help foster creativity. Knowing that you can try something new and not get wacked with registration fees and red tape!

 

[MuddyCreek]

Sorry, been gone a bit. Had a vacation n'at.

Remember that IPA that sat on the cake a bit too long? Well, say hello to "Sunburn". Our newest addition to the Muddy Creek Family. You got lemons, make Lemonade. Not literally of course, we already have Lemonade... in this case, you add some Serrano peppers and you make Sunburn Serrano Pepper beer!

This week is Folk Festival in Butte. That means our city population will swell three or four-fold. It ought to be a very good week for us. We're featuring a new beer on tap (Sunburn,) and we have our randalizer going with strawberries flavoring our Good Time wheat ale. Soon we'll hook up our second randalizer on our IPA so we have fresh Cascade hops infusing rockin' grapefruit and citrus aroma into our fresh IPA.

It ought to be a good week. Sorry I've been gone so long. Been busy. Very busy.

Our brand spankin' new keg cleaner should be here in a few more weeks. That will be a blessing. 20 kegs in an hour. Imagine the POWER coursing through us. The unimaginable POWER!

 

[MuddyCreek]

Well, that went well...

We brewed up 5 gallons of Sunburn and put it on as a "tester". It ran out in about 3 hours. I guess we'll have to go and make some more. We did get feedback on the Serrano beer though. It's not quite hot enough. The answer... upgrade to habanero's ...

In other news we are going to make an Irish Red for the Irish festival coming up in August. It's called An Ri Ra and in honor of that the beer is named An Ri Red. An Ri Ra (with accents,) translates roughly to "a ruckus" so this will be something like (very loosely) "a red ruckus". And that's very very loosely.

Anyway, Tomorrow is the big day in terms of the folk festival firing up. People are already starting to arrive. We've packed the hotels with flyers and discount coupons. We'll send folks into the crowds with more flyers tomorrow. Hell, I'm even going to get a haircut. The whole damn world could be ending!

We have Muddy Creek Chocolate Stout in the fermenters, Skinny Cow IPA is going into the brites today and we'll hopefully throw it on tap tomorrow afternoon. (We should have gotten it into the brites yesterday. I'm a bit bitter about that. But time moves on.)

 

[MuddyCreek]

I'll be there. We aren't doing a booth this year. Not enough folks know about us. We'd just be a drop in the sea. However we are competing two products. Our Stout and our Porter.

I'll post our results. I would be happy to meet up with anybody who is at the festival. I'll be there with both my partners.

 

[jiMithing83]

Well, that went well...

We brewed up 5 gallons of Sunburn and put it on as a "tester". It ran out in about 3 hours. I guess we'll have to go and make some more. We did get feedback on the Serrano beer though. It's not quite hot enough. The answer... upgrade to habanero's ...

In other news we are going to make an Irish Red for the Irish festival coming up in August. It's called An Ri Ra and in honor of that the beer is named An Ri Red. An Ri Ra (with accents,) translates roughly to "a ruckus" so this will be something like (very loosely) "a red ruckus". And that's very very loosely.

Anyway, Tomorrow is the big day in terms of the folk festival firing up. People are already starting to arrive. We've packed the hotels with flyers and discount coupons. We'll send folks into the crowds with more flyers tomorrow. Hell, I'm even going to get a haircut. The whole damn world could be ending!

We have Muddy Creek Chocolate Stout in the fermenters, Skinny Cow IPA is going into the brites today and we'll hopefully throw it on tap tomorrow afternoon. (We should have gotten it into the brites yesterday. I'm a bit bitter about that. But time moves on.)

:lol
Good luck on the upcoming festivals.

 

[MuddyCreek]

I wasn't kidding about the world ending. Went in for a minor surgery today, (my second in my life.). I had a sinoplasty. Basically the surgeon improved my deviated septum (broken twice in college playing ball.). He also reduced my turbinates which are basically fatty masses in front of your sinus cavity openings so I will be able to breathe (and theoretically,) smell better.

So now I'm home resting until I need to go in tomorrow a.m. and oversee the Brewing of our new "best beer ever" according to the taproom staff. Crazy Beautiful is accounting for about 1/3 of all beer sales in the taproom so that's pretty cool. Unfortunately it's also an unplanned insertion in our Brew schedule.

(At this rate one wonders why we bother to plan the Brew schedule at all. ;- ).

Anyway, feeling the tiring effects of just the right amount of oxycodone. Not loopy or anything, just a bit sleepy. Have to breathe through my mouth 100% which sucks, literally as well as figuratively but the doctor says the steam tomorrow will be very good for my nose and sinus passages.

Well, that's about it for me. I'm going to bed now. Again. Take care and enjoy some of your own excellently crafted beer tomorrow. I won't be able to what with the meds but feel free to tell me what you had and how it tasted. I'll enjoy vicariously through you.

 

[MuddyCreek]

Sinoplasty sucks... That is all.

 

[TechyDork]

Sinoplasty sucks... That is all.

Is the recovery rougher than you had expected?

I only ask because I may need to have a similar procedure done to correct a nose that i had broken for me during college soccer. I basically only breath through my left nostril. The right one is 80-90% closed off.

 

[NewJersey]

I also had that surgery only i also had a ton of polyps removed. Recovery was awful.

 

[MuddyCreek]

I had the surgery on Friday last week. That part was awesome. I missed all of it and woke up well and truly drugged. By say Sunday things began to suck. Never because of pain, but because of blockage. I'm not supposed to blow my nose. And I'm one of those passive aggressive "ok, I WON'T blow that ****er just prove that I can go an entire week without DOING it!" guys. Well, that's been the awful part, feeling like my right side of my nose and my sinuses are intermittently blocked all the way up into my brain and then suddenly gushing all over the place. Mostly clear or slightly pinkish stuff. Nothing too terrible but just kinda gross and overwhelming maddeningly "always there."

But every day gets a little bit better. Sinus flushes are now something I look forward to with a joy bordering on inappropriate. However, I can already tell that I'll be able to breath MUCH better and that my nose is noticeably less crooked. I've already had 7 women ask to have sex with me. (Part of the last paragraph is not entirely true, I'll leave it to you to determine which part.)

 

[Vandulus]

I had the surgery on Friday last week. That part was awesome. I missed all of it and woke up well and truly drugged. By say Sunday things began to suck. Never because of pain, but because of blockage. I'm not supposed to blow my nose. And I'm one of those passive aggressive "ok, I WON'T blow that ****er just prove that I can go an entire week without DOING it!" guys. Well, that's been the awful part, feeling like my right side of my nose and my sinuses are intermittently blocked all the way up into my brain and then suddenly gushing all over the place. Mostly clear or slightly pinkish stuff. Nothing too terrible but just kinda gross and overwhelming maddeningly "always there."

But every day gets a little bit better. Sinus flushes are now something I look forward to with a joy bordering on inappropriate. However, I can already tell that I'll be able to breath MUCH better and that my nose is noticeably less crooked. I've already had 7 women ask to have sex with me. (Part of the last paragraph is not entirely true, I'll leave it to you to determine which part.)

I had the same operation about 10 years ago and completely sympathize. Of course I also had a Uvulectomy and my tonsils removed at the same time for sleep apnea. I don't know if they put stints up your sinuses, but that was extremely irritating for me. I will say that I've only had 1 sinus infection since then (used to be every 3-4 months) and colds don't seem to hit me as bad. Plus my sense of smell and breathing have definitely improved, so there is a light at the end of the tunnel!

 

[ImNoExpert]

I've already had 7 women ask to have sex with me. (Part of the last paragraph is not entirely true, I'll leave it to you to determine which part.)

So you're saying the drugs are good?

 

[MuddyCreek]

Well, we moved about 10 bbls to secondary on Saturday and brewed up 10 more. It was a long, but productive day. I have to make an epic grain order this week.

We need to brew up the blonde ale again, it's getting low. Also need to brew some more Porter soon. (Who knew the porter would do so well in the summer?)

Meanwhile I'll be tasting the pepper beer tonight to see if it's ready to carb for the weekend. It won't last through a night. (We're only doing a 1/4.) We finished up the Irish Red and it's GREAT! We'll be putting it in the brites by Friday or so. There's an Irish festival in town in August and we'll roll out about 6 kegs of the Red for that. Hopefully it will go over really well for the festival.

Our Pale Ale is also ready to go into the Brites. We'll probably move that on Wednesday so it will be ready to keg by Friday. That's been very popular and obviously we're thrilled about that. We can't keep that stuff on tap.

Tonight we're going to do some experimenting with hop extracts. We'll see how well we like them from a tasting perspective. We're going to try a few drops on some Bud Light and see what's what. Both Todd and I have been reading about how more and more breweries are using some combination of hops extracts in their brewing processes and I figured I would be willing to at least check it out.

According to the numbers you can take a 10 bbl batch of beer up to 95+ IBUs for about $100 worth of this hops extract. That's a pretty good price and would save quite a bit on volume when you consider what you lose to hops absorption, trub loss etc. So, what the hell. We'll try it out and see if it has some weird flavors. I can always use flavor and aroma hops and simply add the bittering hops extracts later.

I'm not sold that it's something I want to do, but I'm willing to look at options.

 

[NewJersey]

Sounds like a ghetto ABinbev shortcut.
I know its a trend, but buck it.

 

[sandyeggoxj]

Oh I think hop extract has a place indeed. When you look at the wort you are not leaving behind in the kettle, the bales of hops you are not keeping in the deep freeze and the consistency of bittering from batch to batch hop extract has an important place in commercial brewing. Whether you like the effects is a different conversation.

Way to keep an open mind and try out new things!

 

[singybrue]

Ghetto like Heady Topper and Pliny?